Google Places Reviews < 2.0.0 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.0.0
- Affected Plugin
- Reviews Block for Google
- Affected Version
< 2.0.0- CVSS
- 5.5Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2022-1772
At a glance
CVE-2022-1772 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Reviews Block for Google WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.0.0. It carries a CVSS score of 5.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Admin level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.0.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2022, reported by Krishna Harsha Kondaveeti.
Vulnerability Overview
The Google Places Reviews WordPress plugin before 2.0.0 does not properly escape its Google API key setting, which is reflected on the site's administration panel. A malicious administrator could abuse this bug, in a multisite WordPress configuration, to trick super-administrators into viewing the booby-trapped payload and taking over their account.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in Reviews Block for Google < 2.0.0 takes an account at Admin level or above. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Reviews Block for Google the fix is 2.0.0: builds < 2.0.0 are affected, anything from 2.0.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.0.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Admin access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Reviews Block for Google 2.0.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C